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George Garrett Award

Contemporary literature and AWP have benefited from the efforts of many teachers, writers, editors, and administrators who have done their utmost to help the next generation of writers find their way as artists and as literary professionals.
In bestowing the annual George Garrett Award for Outstanding Community Service in Literature, AWP recognizes a few of those individuals who have made notable donations of care, time, labor, and money to support writers and their literary accomplishments.

George Garrett Award Recipients

Maria Mazziotti Gillan was awarded the 2014 George Garrett Award for Outstanding Community Service in Literature at our annual conference in Seattle. Visit our previous winners page to learn more about past recipients of the prize.

The award is named for George Garrett (1929-2008), who made exceptional contributions to his fellow writers as a teacher, mentor, editor, friend, board member, and good spirit. Garrett served for many years as the editor of Intro, an annual anthology of work by emerging writers; he served as one of the founding members of the AWP Board of Directors; he taught creative writing and literature for more than forty years; and he is the author of more than thirty books. As a writer, teacher, mentor, editor, or inspiration, Garrett helped many young writers who are now major contributors to contemporary letters. The award includes a $2,000 honorarium, in addition to travel, accommodations, and registration to attend AWP's annual conference, where the award is publicly announced and conferred.

Nominations

Letters of nomination are accepted each year between August 1 and September 15 and should be mailed to: